Asha Bhosle Genre: World/Reggae, Film/Bollywood, India Hometown: India
If there is one singer who could sing sensuous numbers like ‘Piya tu ab to aaja’
from Caravan and ‘Raat akeli hai’ from Jewel Thief and the masterly ghazal
compositions in Umrao Jaan like ‘Dil cheez kya hai’ and ‘In aankhon ke masti’
with proficiency then it has to be Asha Bhosle. Talking about her renditions in
‘Umrao Jaan’, Asha says, ‘I was skeptical about the results when Khayyam lowered
my pitch by half a note. But I have always believed that the composer calls the
tune, so I sang just as Khayyam wanted me to do.’
She was undoubtedly at her best during the mid 80’s and it was then that Asha
rendered 'Mera kuch saaman tumhaare paas pada hai', the R.D. Burman composition
for Gulzar's Ijaazat that won her the National Award as Best Singer. At this
point, there were quite a few who felt that Asha was not just Lata's peer, but
had forged ahead of her and it had taken Asha the best part of 35 years to
achieve this.
